aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Erik Jensen update

I became aware of the case of Nathan Ybanez and Erik Jensen through the devastatingly powerful Frontline documentary, When Kids Get Life (view the trailer here). Their case is profoundly disturbing:

The two met ten years ago at Highlands Ranch high school, where they played in a well-named punk-rock band, Troublebound. Nate came from a troubled family, Erik from a wealthy one, but the two became close friends and confidants.

In 1998, they both were accused of murdering Nate’s mother, Julie. Between the time the two boys caught the case and when they stepped before a judge, the massacre at Columbine occurred. Although they were juveniles, both were charged as adults and convicted of first-degree murder. Which means both are serving mandatory sentences of life without parole.

Nate was allegedly sexually abused by his mother; since the trial details of that abuse have become public. Frontline’s graphic questioning of him on the topic made the New York Times reviewer squirm. He filed for a new trial last month.

Erik’s legal situation is even bleaker. He and friends had suspected the abuse and reported it to their parents who contacted social workers. No one investigated. Erik says he was waiting in an adjoining room unaware of what was going on when the murder occurred.

Frontline did an excellent job of allowing both he and his parents to tell their story (his parents have set up the Pendulum Foundation to bring attention to juvenile justice issues). The latest:

The Jensens are pinning their hopes to a new clemency board established by Governor Bill Ritter. Erik has exhausted all of his appeal options in the state; his parents are now prepared to take his case to the federal courts in the next few months. And Curt Jensen, Erik’s father, says he’s willing to fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

“He’s at Limon now and he likes the place there, and he’s not associated with anybody or anything so he likes being a loner in that respect, he’s adjusted a lot better,” Jensen says of his son, who’d hinted to Frontline that he might commit suicide if he wasn’t freed.

Erik’s story is an American tragedy, a horrible miscarriage of justice. They deserve to be heard in the governor’s office or the Federal courts.